The Effects of Corporate Elitism and Groupthink on Organizational Empathy in Crisis Situations

This study is to empirically testify that corporate elitism is an antecedent to groupthink, which prevents organizational empathy from working effectively in crises. The current study is expected to expand the boundary of crisis management literature into a company’s crisis-preparedness before a crisis occurs. The findings offer the useful guidance to organizations on how to better manage their crisis proneness through identifying the early signs of corporate elitism and groupthink.     

西南民族大学金·史密斯藏学文献馆的建馆历程

著名藏学家金·史密斯先生用一生的时间从事藏文文献的保护工作,在藏文文献的收集、整理、研究、利用等领域做出了巨大的贡献,为后人留下了大量的藏文文献。他在美国纽约建立了藏传佛教文献资料中心（简称：TBRC）,大量的藏文文献在国内、外藏学界利用起来。同时他也是把藏文文献的原件从国外捐赠给中国的第一位外国藏学家,2012年12月,历时5年的藏文纸质文献的捐赠工作顺利完成。本论文对金·史密斯先生建立TBRC的具体情况,捐赠纸质文献给西南民族大学的事件,西南民族大学金·史密斯藏学文献馆建馆历程等内容进行梳理,以此来缅怀为藏文文献的保护工作付出一生的美国藏学家。     

Individual and situational correlates of motivation for skills upgrading: an empirical study

The present research examines the tenability of a number of factors thought to precede an individual's motivation for skills upgrading. Because motivation for skills upgrading is instrumental to training success and is highly malleable, knowing the factors that precede motivation for skills upgrading would help managers and policy makers a great deal in formulating strategies to raise the competitiveness of the workforce. We derive several testable hypotheses from the existing literature and empirically verify the selected antecedents of motivation for skills upgrading. Results based on responses from 413 employees suggest that an individual's attitude towards skills upgrading, self-efficacy, usefulness of skills upgrading, health condition and long-term orientation are positively related to motivation for skills upgrading. Implications for policy makers, managers and researchers are discussed.     

Spatial variability of epibiotic assemblages on marina pontoons in Singapore

Berthing pontoons, one of the most ubiquitous structures in marinas, are known to provide recruitment substrate for a variety of marine biota but little has been reported on their capacity to support epibiotic organisms in tropical marinas, and even less is known about the factors that shape their distribution in such environments. We surveyed the epibiotic assemblages on the sides of pontoons in three Singapore marinas and examined the environmental conditions that influenced their distribution. A total of 94 taxa were recorded, with each marina hosting 43–65 taxa. Assemblages among marinas were highly distinct, and, key discriminants included components of biotic (alcyonarians, hexacorallians, bivalves, and annelids), as well as abiotic (sediment, bare area and shell fragments) origin. While the assemblage variation among marinas was influenced by local environmental conditions (e.g. water motion and sedimentation rate) and pontoon material, the variation in distribution within each marina was best explained by the distance of the pontoons from the marina’s entrance (epibiotic diversity and taxa richness were lower away from the marina entrance). Knowledge on the distribution of epibiotic assemblages on pontoons is essential to identify the factors that contribute to spatial variation and encourage the design and construction of ecologically-friendly marinas. Our findings suggest that improvements to pontoon design and layout would help to augment marina biodiversity, enhance the ecology of urbanised coasts, and mitigate development impacts.     

Ethnic identities and national identities: Some examples from Malaysia

Using examples from Malaysia, this paper emphasizes the importance of relating ethnicity to the power of the state and political processes involving different ethnic groups. Ethnic group formation involves processes that make people identify as an imagined community in a nation‐state. Indeed, the processes that create ethnic and national identities are part and parcel of the same historical processes. It is also necessary to relate national identity to ethnicity, as national identity is imagined differently by different ethnic groups in a nation‐state. The paper describes Malay and Chinese ethnicity as well as the complex ethnic identification and ethnogenesis of the indigenous peoples of Sarawak.     

Conditions of Slope-Rotatability for Third-Order Polynomial Regression Models

In experimental design for response surface analysis, it is sometimes of interest to estimate the difference of responses at two points. If differences at points close together are involved, the design that reliably estimates the slope of the response surface is important. In particular, Hader and Park (1978 Hader , R. J. , Park , S. H. ( 1978 ). Slope-rotatable central composite designs . Technometrics 20 : 413 – 417 .[Taylor & Francis Online], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]) suggested the concept of slope-rotatability and studied slope rotatable central composite designs. Until now, many response surface designs including central composite designs have been suggested for fitting second order response surface models. However, we often need to fit third-order polynomial regression models. In this article, we suggest extended central composite designs (ECCDs) to fit third-order models and find the necessary and sufficient conditions for slope-rotatability over all directions in the third-order polynomial models.     

A Numerical Likelihood-Based Approach to Combining Correlation Matrices

Numerical approaches to developing accurate and efficient approximations to combined likelihoods of population correlation matrices in meta-analysis under normality assumptions for the data are studied. The likelihood is expressed as a multiple integral over the unit cube in (p ? 1)-dimensional space, where p is the row and column dimensionality of the correlation matrix. Three types of computation are proposed as ways to calculate the likelihood for any population correlation matrix P. As an application, inference is explored concerning intercorrelations among math, spatial and verbal scores in a SAT exam. Comparisons are made with conventional methods.     

A cross-cultural analysis of perception on ageist attitudes between Korean and American social work students

This study examined whether there are differences in ageist attitudes toward a person who is struggling from terminal illness between Korean and American social work major students at the undergraduate level. A total of 137 college students participated in this study: 66 Korean students in South Korea and 71 American students in the United States. The students were given surveys with an identical case but the subject was either a 38-year-old or an 80-year-old woman, and they answered 16 questions regarding their perception of age and death, end-of-life options, assessment and intervention, and values and ethics to care. The finding showed that there were generally negative ageist attitudes among social work students regardless of their cultural background, though there were some differences in their basic ageist attitudes. The findings suggest that social work students at the undergraduate level need more education to resolve their negative ageist attitudes in order to provide effective service for the older population.     

The private sector in Malaysian construction

Since the introduction of the New Economic Policy (NEP) in 1970, the rapid rate of urbanisation has meant an accelerated growth in the demand for housing. Housing needs have been identified under successive Malaysian Plans as a major social objective, where the overall goal is to ensure that all Malaysians have access to adequate housing.The responsibility for the low-income housing programme rests with the Ministry of Housing and Local Government, who have been unable to keep to housing targets set by successive Malaysian Plans. By 1985, the end of the fourth Malaysian Plan period, the overall shortfall was 56%.Today the private sector dominates the construction scene. Due to the lack of government enthusiasm for solving housing shortages and lack of funds, the private sector is increasingly encouraged by the government to build extensive areas of suburbia in and around the largest cities. In the fifth Malaysian Plan (1986–1990), the private sector is expected to supply 80% of the housing provision.The aim of this paper is: (1) to analyse the composition and structure of the private sector; (2) to discuss the current production process and government action to encourage private speculative construction; and (3) to analyse the performance of the private sector to date in fulfilling the housing targets.